I Don't Wanna Love Somebody Else
by y-nikiforovv
Summary: When you've loved your best friend for years, finding out he's gotten a girlfriend within months of being at university can be particularly heartbreaking, especially when you thought that said best friend had felt the same. / Some good old college au Iwaoi angst. Inspired by the song "I Don't Wanna Love Somebody Else" by A Great Big World
1. Chapter 1

It had been months since Oikawa and Iwaizumi had parted ways for university, and Iwaizumi still wasn't used to walking back to his dorm after practice without his best friend.

He missed Oikawa's never-ending chatter that filled the air, and the soft humming when he did finally shut up. He missed going home to study together, which more often than not resulted in the setter falling asleep on the floor. He missed volleyball practice with Oikawa too. Sure, the people on his team now were nice and all, but none of them could beat a lifetime of friendship with Oikawa.

He sighed, he was loaded down with homework that night, and it was already getting late. That was one thing he wouldn't miss, he could never get his homework done because of Oikawa. Not that he necessarily minded, but it was annoying to rush it the next day.

Finally he reached his dorm building and walked inside. He began to make his way up the stairs to his floor, the fifth floor. His coach was very adamant about using the stairs instead of the elevator, he said it was good for their legs. Iwaizumi didn't really care either way. Neither was necessarily harder, and the stairway was less crowded.

He finally reached his floor, and he made his way down the hall. His room was one of the first in the hallway so it wasn't very far. He pushed the door open, and was greeted by the sound of rapid gunfire. His roommate, Takeru, was playing video games, as he usually was when Iwaizumi returned from practice.

He waved to him, and his Takeru nodded in his direction due to his lack of a free hand to wave.

He had just sat down at the desk that was by the window of the small room and opened his laptop when a notification popped up in the corner of his screen.

 _New Video Chat from Tooru Oikawa_

Iwaizumi clicked on the notification, he hadn't talked to Oikawa all day, so he was quick to just forget about his homework and talk to his friend.

After a moment of loading, Oikawa's face popped up on the screen.

"He-"

"Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi had been halfway through his greeting when Oikawa interrupted him, and his loud voice came blasting through his laptop speakers. He jumped slightly, and moved back in his chair on instinct, "Jesus Christ, you trying to scare me to death? Dumbass!"

However, Oikawa was undeterred, and yelled his next line just as loudly, as if he hadn't heard Iwaizumi, "Guess what Iwa-chan! Guess what!"

Takeru paused his game, pulled his headphones off of his ears, and let them rest around his neck, "Oh hey, is that Tooru? Hey Tooru."

Iwaizumi talked to Oikawa often enough while Takeru was in the room, so the two had gotten to know each other quite well as a result of it.

Oikawa smiled and looked past Iwaizumi to where Takeru was sitting on the couch, "Hey Take-chan, how are you?"

Takeru grinned, "Not bad, what's the big news?"

Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa, "Yeah, what's so important that you had to destroy my ears for it?"

"Maho-chan asked me out!" Oikawa was clearly excited, and it took all of Iwaizumi's power to keep a straight face.

They had never really had any sort of spoken relationship, nothing was defined in their friendship. But Iwaizumi had thought that they had something going on, but he supposed that had meant nothing to Oikawa. The hand holding, sharing a bed, all of that had just been Oikawa being his normal touchy-feely self. Iwaizumi felt his heart shatter into a million pieces.

Throughout all of junior high and high school, Oikawa had never had any sort of interest in any girls, or guys either. Iwaizumi had always been enough to fill the role of a significant other, and Oikawa had been the same thing for Iwaizumi. But Iwaizumi clearly wasn't enough for Oikawa anymore.

Thankfully Takeru said something, because Iwaizumi couldn't, "Maho is the friend who's on the girls volleyball team at your university , right?"

Oikawa grinned, "Yeah! She's a wing spiker, and she was the ace in high school!"

The fact that Maho played the exact same position was another blow to his heart, but he managed to make himself speak, "Nice job Shittykawa, you managed to pick up a girl finally."

Oikawa frowned, "Mean Iwa-chaaan."

"You should come visit soon," Takeru walked up behind Iwaizumi so he was closer to the screen, "I'd like to meet you for real. You should bring Maho too."

That was the exact opposite of what Iwaizumi wanted to do, seeing Maho would only finalize that whatever they had for the past six years was over, but he agreed, "It's been a few months, maybe we can play some volleyball."

Oikawa smiled, "That sounds great Iwa-chan! I'll be there this weekend, and I'll ask Maho-chan too!"

"See you this weekend then dumbass."

"Don't be so mean Iwa-chan, I'll see you this weekend."

Iwaizumi shut the laptop lid, and retreated to his bed without speaking to Takeru. He pulled the curtains around it shut, and that was the closest he would get to privacy.

He leaned against the wall and pulled his knees to his chest. Had he made up the last six years in his head? Had that all just been Iwaizumi misreading everything? Sure, they had never technically dated, but they also spent all their time together, held hands, stuff like that, and never really had a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Maybe it was Oikawa who had misread it, completely unaware of Iwaizumi's feelings.

But it didn't matter who hadn't realized what their relationship was, Oikawa still had a girlfriend, Iwaizumi's heart was still broken, and he still had to figure out how to fix it. He couldn't just ignore Oikawa, that would destroy him, plus he was coming to visit that weekend.

He decided that the best thing to do was to just try and forget about his feelings, maybe if they were left unnurtured for long enough they would wither and die.

He decided he was going to try to sleep, despite the fact that it was only 10:30 and he had homework, but as soon as his head hit the pillow his brain became flooded with old memories.

Memories of practices, of late-night study sessions where Oikawa fell asleep on Iwaizumi. Memories of wins, losses, and the aftermath of both. Whether happy or sad, Oikawa always ended up in Iwaizumi's arms the night of the match. Falling asleep with Oikawa in his arms, the sound of his breathing. All were things he didn't want to admit that he missed, but he really did.

Iwaizumi felt tears begin to prick his eyes, and protected by the thin fabric barrier of the curtain, he cried. They weren't particularly dramatic sobs, instead silent tears ran down his face as he laid with his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

* * *

He didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep, he just heard his alarm going off for his first class of the day. He hadn't even changed out of his workout clothes from practice the previous night.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, hoping that what had happened last night had been just a dream, but a little voice in the back of his head said differently.

He pushed back the curtains, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. The dorm was still dark, Takeru didn't have his first class until noon, so he usually slept in, but Iwaizumi figured ten in the morning was late enough, so he turned on the light.

Still half-asleep he shuffled over to the small dining area in the corner of their room, and opened up one of the cupboards above the sink.

He pulled a bowl out from the cupboard, and then cereal from the next. He was in the middle of pouring himself a bowl when Takeru rolled out of his bed and onto the floor.

Iwaizumi ignored the thump, he was used to Takeru's strange way of getting up. Takeru said that if he didn't force himself out of bed like that in the morning he would just fall back asleep.

A few moments later Takeru was standing next to him with his own bowl in his hands, "Hey you okay Hajime? You seemed kind of down after talking to Tooru last night."

Iwaizumi shrugged, and handed Takeru the cereal box, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just sucks that Trashykawa got a girlfriend before I did."

Iwaizumi was opening the fridge to get the milk when Takeru replied, clearly shocked, "Wait, neither of you have ever had girlfriends? Even I've had a few, and I'm the quiet nerd kid"

"No not really," Iwaizumi finished pouring the milk into his cereal and handed the carton to Takeru as he made his way to their small table, "He had one back when we were first years, but they were hardly dating. The dumbass spent so much time on volleyball he forgot about her, and she dumped him after a week.

Takeru laughed at this statement, "Well, I see why he got into the school he did, he's clearly a dedicated player."

Iwaizumi nodded, "More than you know. His whole life is volleyball, the only reason I'm still as big a part of it as I am is because of it. He doesn't really have many close friends outside of the team. But he's brilliant. You should see how he analyzes everything, the other team, his own teammates. He can point out your smallest flaw, and he finds a way to minimize it during a match, or if he's playing against you make it stick out and hinder you. He brings out the best in the whole team, no matter how weak the player."

Takeru listened as Iwaizumi talked, taking a seat in the other chair.

"He actually ended up on the same team as our nemesis, Ushijima. He was so pissed when he saw him that first day of practice."

Iwaizumi actually laughed, an actual genuine laugh, and Takeru chuckled as well.

"Really? That must suck for Tooru."

Iwaizumi quickly stopped his laughter and continued speaking, "The most ironic part is, they're potentially the most powerful duo on the team, no matter how much Oikawa hates it. It's the most powerful option, and even though he despises working with Ushijima he's forced to by his own pride and determination to be the best he can be."

"This really doesn't sound like him at all, is he really like that?"

Takeru was questioning the serious side of Oikawa that Iwaizumi was describing, and Iwaizumi didn't blame him.

Iwaizumi was completely serious now though, "Oh definitely. I actually think I have a few videos of our best matches somewhere, he always made sure to record matches so he could analyze them and criticize us all the next day. You should see him play sometime though, he's insane. We always had to cover the backs of our heads when he served, just in case he flubbed it and sent it sailing into our heads. It would have knocked us straight to the ground if that did happen."

Takeru was shocked, "Damn, that's intense."

Iwaizumi nodded, and then his phone went off. It was the alarm he had set that told him when he needed to leave,"Oh shit, I've gotta go!"

He bolted from his chair and grabbed a random shirt and pants from his dresser drawer, and ran into the bathroom to change. He didn't even bother brushing his teeth, he just went to the bathroom and ran back out. He crammed his laptop into his backpack and grabbed a jacket from the closet.

He ran out, and waved a quick goodbye to Takeru, "See ya, you can look for the disks if you want, they should be in one of my boxes in the closet."

Takeru waved back, and responded, his voice muffled by a mouthful of cereal, "See ya later Hajime!"

Iwaizumi slammed the door shut behind him and jogged down the hallway and down the stairs. Once he reached the lobby he figured he had made up for the extra time he had taken that morning, so he slowed down. He shrugged off one of his backpack straps and went to put his jacket on, and realized he had grabbed his volleyball jacket from high school. He felt a sharp stab of pain in his chest as he remembered all the memories he had wearing this jacket, but shoved the feeling down and put one arm into the jacket, and then the other.

He zipped it as he walked, trapping the heat inside, and the cold November air on the outside. It was getting cold, right about now would be when Oikawa would start begging Iwaizumi to hold his hand, because he forgot his gloves and his hands were cold. He also enjoyed sticking his ice-cold hands up Iwaizumi's shirt by surprise, which he knew Iwaizumi hated because it made him feel cold from head to toe. He pushed the memories away, he had to forget about the feelings he had for Oikawa, no matter how much he wanted to keep hoping.

He walked quickly to class, hands stuffed in his pockets to protect them from the cold. In the rush he had forgotten to grab his gloves.

* * *

It was finally Friday, and Iwaizumi had just finished practice. Thankfully practices only went from four to seven in the evening on Fridays, he was more than ready to go back to his dorm. He was stuffing his workout clothes in his backpack as he walked out, trying to minimize his time spent getting back.

"So this is the Iwa-chan I've heard so much about."

The voice came from behind him, so he turned around to see who it was, throwing his backpack over his shoulders, "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

The person who had called his name was a girl. Her hair was short, and stuck up in random places. She wore a smug grin, and stood with her weight on one foot, arms crossed over her chest, "The names Maho, and your jacket says your last name, so I figured you were Iwaizumi Hajime, the man my boyfriend won't stop talking about."

Her words would have sounded jealous out of context, but her tone was teasing and playful.

Iwaizumi felt his heart shatter all over again at the word boyfriend, but he held it together, "Oh, so you must be Maho-chan. The woman my best friend won't stop talking about."

He mimicked Maho's tone, hoping he didn't come off as rude. Pissing off Oikawa's girlfriend would _not_ work out well.

She chuckled, so he knew he was successful.

"So where's the dumbass?"

Maho began walking in the direction of his dorm, "He's playing video games with your roommate. I got bored so I came to wait for you, Oikawa told me where you'd be. I had to meet you myself."

Iwaizumi nodded and followed her, "So you play for the girls team at your school, right?"

"Yeah, wing spiker. Same as high school, but I was the ace then."

"Cool," his heart somehow broke into more pieces than it already had.

The walk back to the dorm was silent, but comfortably so. He could tell Maho wasn't really a woman of many words, much like he was. They ascended the stairs silently, and Iwaizumi led the way down the hall, and pushed open the door to his room.

Oikawa and Takeru were sitting on the couch, extremely immersed in their game, but when Oikawa saw it was Iwaizumi at the door he ditched his controller and lept from the couch.

"Iwa-chan!" He launched himself into Iwaizumi's arms, almost like an excited puppy, "I'm so happy to see you!"

Iwaizumi was prepared for this, and he caught Oikawa easily, not even having to take any steps backwards to right himself, "Hey dumbass."

Out of habit, Iwaizumi tucked his arm under Oikawa's knees, and held him in his arms.

Oikawa wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi's neck, also out of habit, "Don't be so mean Iwa-chan, I spent two hours on the train to get here, show a little gratitude!"

"Alright fine, happy you're here."

"There, that's be-"

"Dumbass," Iwaizumi grinned smugly as he interrupted Oikawa.

Oikawa gasped dramatically, and swung his legs back onto the ground, arms still around Iwaizumi's neck, "Iwa-chan, mean!"

Iwaizumi chuckled, "Yep, by the way, how's your team doing?"

Oikawa glared at him playfully, "I'm not telling you our secrets! That would give you an advantage."

"Guess even you're not enough of a dumbass to reveal your secrets to me, damn."

Oikawa frowned at him, "Iwa-chaaaan."

Iwaizumi laughed again, "Not my fault you're so easy to tease."

Takeru interrupted their bickering, and waved a dvd in the air, "I found some of the videos you were talking about a few days ago, maybe we can watch a match or two."

Oikawa's face lit up, "Iwa-chan, I didn't know you kept the tapes I gave you of our matches!"

Iwaizumi shrugged, and walked over to the couch, "I kind of forgot about them to be honest. I only remembered a few days ago."

Oikawa followed Iwaizumi to the couch, and sat down in between him and Maho.

Takeru put the disk in the video player and sat down next to Iwaizumi.

The video had fairly decent resolution, good enough to see the player's numbers at least, and it was filmed from the center of the front row of the stands, giving it a good aerial view of the court.

 _Welcome to the Japanese Inter High Championship game. We would like to welcome Shiratorizawa Academy, and Aoba Johsai High._

A woman's monotonous voice was broadcasted over the loudspeaker, announcing the teams that were competing that day.

"Hey, Take-chan," Oikawa turned towards Iwaizumi's roommate, "What year did the tape say on it?"

"The label said Shiratorizawa, first year."

Oikawa nodded, "Ok, thanks."

Nobody said anything after that, after all, the match was starting.

Oikawa stood behind the back line, holding the ball in his hand. He didn't seem nervous at all, but Iwaizumi remembered that Oikawa had thrown up before that game due to the nerves. He had spent half an hour in the bathroom with him. He bounced the ball on the court a few times powerfully, almost as if he was showing off.

His shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath, and he tossed the ball high up into the air.

He ran forward, jumped up, and his hand connected with the ball.

The ball hit the ground without coming in contact with any of the players on the other side, Iwaizumi remembered that specifically. Oikawa's confidence had skyrocketed after that, causing them to do even better.

* * *

They were nearing the end of the video, and all four teenagers were on the edge of their seats. Oikawa grasped Iwaizumi's hand tightly, squeezing the life out of it. He also held onto Maho's hand in the same way. It was almost as if he didn't remember how the match ended.

Aoba Johsai had the set point for the fourth set, and they were about to tie the game. Shiratorizawa had taken two sets and they had taken one. Oikawa was up to serve, and he took a deep breath, tossed the ball, and served it.

The other team received the ball, but it was sloppy, so their setup for the attack was weak.

Ushijima sent the spike straight for Oikawa, the toss wasn't clean enough to do anything fancy, and it hit his forearms directly. It sailed up into the air due to the force behind Ushijima's spike, and flew way above the net in the middle of their side of the court, and then came Iwaizumi from the back line, "I got it!"

He jumped up into the air, and spiked the ball down into the other team's side from the middle of their own. The blockers hadn't been prepared for an attack like that, they stared at the spot where the ball had hit.

Iwaizumi stared at the screen in disbelief, he had forgotten about that.

He watched on the screen as his team cheered and ran to congratulate him, especially Oikawa. His friend threw himself into Iwaizumi's arms with joy, and then they were obscured by the rest of the team.

The game still wasn't over yet, so their celebration didn't last long. There was still one set left to go, and it actually seemed like they might win. Sadly Iwaizumi and Oikawa knew that this didn't happen, they had never won a match against Shiratorizawa. However, they didn't tell Takeru and Maho. They were getting so into the match that they didn't want to spoil it for them.

Oikawa was still crushing Iwaizumi's and Maho's hands, and Iwaizumi's hand was beginning to hurt pretty badly.

Finally, the match finished, and Oikawa let go of Iwaizumi's hand. He shook it out to get the blood flowing once more, and saw Maho doing the same.

"Loosen up your hold on my hand next time, dumbass," Iwaizumi complained at Oikawa as he shook his hand.

Maho looked to him as well, nursing her injured hand, "Please do, idiot."

Oikawa laughed nervously, "Sorry Iwa-chan, Maho-chan."

Iwaizumi punched Oikawa gently in the shoulder, "You better be."

Oikawa fake pouted and rubbed his shoulder, "Mean Iwa-chan."

* * *

Hours had passed, and it was almost midnight. The group had been watching a movie together, due to lack of a better way to spend their time. Takeru and Iwaizumi were sitting on the couch, and Maho and Oikawa had taken the floor.

The credits began rolling, and Maho stood up and stretched, arching her back slightly and stretching her arms high up into the air.

"Well, we should probably get going," Maho began saying goodbye, "Come on idiot, get up. We've gotta go."

But Oikawa laid still on the floor in front of the couch. He was snoring quietly, and Iwaizumi recognized that he had fallen asleep, just like every time he came over to Iwaizumi's to study.

"The dumbass fell asleep," Iwaizumi pointed this out with a chuckle.

Takeru looked towards Maho, "You guys can stay here for tonight, that way you don't have to wake up Tooru, and you don't have to spend two hours on the train at midnight."

Maho turned towards him, "Thanks. I didn't really wanna spend another two hours on the train home."

Takeru looked back at Iwaizumi, "Hajime, could you go grab some extra blankets and pillows from the closet?"

Iwaizumi nodded, and walked to the closet. As he was digging through it for some blankets, he was reminded of all the times he had to go hunting for blankets when he fell asleep on the floor at his house. Eventually he had just kept extra blankets out because of how often Oikawa would pass out on the floor.

He finally found some, and handed one to Maho, "Here, just let me know if you need more."

She nodded, "Thanks."

He walked past her to where Oikawa laid, passed out on the ground, and knelt down next to him. Iwaizumi gently lifted his head off the ground, stuck the pillow beneath it, and tossed the other blanket over him.

He stood and turned back to Maho, "He should be good now, but just as a warning, he never really sleeps too well on the floor so he gets about ten times more annoying the next day when he does."

Maho nodded again, and sat down on the couch, "Good to know, I'll have to put headphones in."

"No problem."

Iwaizumi then turned away and headed back to his own bed, drew the curtains around it, and sat down against the wall. He had homework to do, so he pulled out his laptop, turned down the brightness, and began typing.

* * *

It had probably been about an hour when he heard the curtains shift and the mattress squeak, and Oikawa sat down next to him, "Iwa-chan, why are you still up?"

Iwaizumi didn't even turn to look at his friend, "Homework. I have a paper due Monday and want to make sure I have it done."

Oikawa rested his chin on Iwaizumi's shoulder, "What's the paper about?"

"Something," Iwaizumi was putting barely any thought into his replies, just saying the first thing that came to mind, doing his best to stay focused on the paper. It had been ages since he had tried to do homework with Oikawa around, and he had forgotten how hard it was.

He knew that nothing was going to get done with Oikawa hovering over him, so he sighed and closed his laptop, "Come on dumbass, go back to sleep."

"Can't."

He was annoyed, "What do you mean you can't sleep, just lay down and close your eyes. Not that hard."

"But I've tried thaaaat," Oikawa whined.

Iwaizumi knew what Oikawa was trying to get Iwaizumi to offer, "You're not sleeping with me."

Oikawa pouted, "Pleeeease?"

Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a deadpan expression, "You're not gonna give it up are you?"

Oikawa shook his head and grinned happily, "Nope."

Iwaizumi sighed, "Ugh fine. Lay down then dumbass."

Oikawa smiled happily and laid down on his side, curling up into a ball as he always did.

Iwaizumi laid next to him and put an arm around him, feeling his face grow red. This wasn't exactly helping him get over Oikawa. Though it wasn't like he wanted to do that either.

Oikawa fell straight to sleep, Iwaizumi could tell by the rhythm of his breathing, but Iwaizumi couldn't. He laid behind his friend with his arm draped awkwardly over his side and his mind was racing.

Most of the thoughts were simply just random ones that flew by in his head, and he didn't pay much attention to them, but one stuck out to him. He realized how alike he and Maho were. Both had short, spiky, and untamed hair, and both insulted Oikawa more often than they used his regular name. Maho played the same position as Iwaizumi too, and talked just as much as him, which wasn't much.

He almost thought for a moment that they had had something, but Oikawa was trying to get over Iwaizumi by dating a girl like him. That was ridiculous though. He quickly dismissed it as a possibility. But the thought was persistent, and kept him up until he eventually he slipped into sleep due to complete exhaustion.

* * *

He didn't wake up until Takeru threw open the curtains surrounding his bed, "Hajime have you seen To— oh. Guess you have seen him."

Iwaizumi's eyes opened reluctantly, he was still so tired. Couldn't he just sleep?

Then he realized how he had been sleeping. Oikawa was curled up in Iwaizumi's chest, with his arms wrapped around Iwaizumi's torso, and his face was buried in Iwaizumi's shirt. Iwaizumi was curled around Oikawa, holding him tightly in his arms.

He quickly unwrapped his arms from around Oikawa and sat up, willing his face to not turn red. That would make the situation much much worse.

To his dismay, Oikawa didn't let go when he sat up, instead he clung to Iwaizumi's torso and buried his face farther in his chest.

Takeru awkwardly shuffled his feet where he stood, "Maho-chan is out looking for Tooru, they have to get going soon, and I figured I'd check and see if you've seen him, which you, uh, have I guess."

Iwaizumi chuckled nervously, "Yeah, I have. The dumbass woke me up at like two in the morning because he couldn't sleep, and insisted that being near me helped."

Takeru turned away, and walked towards the couch where his video game controller sat, "Alright then. You probably shouldn't do that now though, considering Tooru has a girlfriend."

Iwaizumi didn't pay much attention to the last part, and instead nudged Oikawa, "Hey, dumbass. Get up."

Oikawa groaned, "Iwa-chaaaan, I don't wannaaa. Can't we just skip school todaaay?"

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, the dumbass had forgotten that he was in college, "Dumbass, you're in college now, and none of your classes start until 11. Plus, it's a Saturday, and you have a train to catch back to Tokyo.

Oikawa only wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi more tightly, "But I don't wannaaaaa."

Iwaizumi didn't respond to this with words, that wasn't working, so instead he pried Oikawa's arms off of him, "Come on, get up."

Oikawa still persisted, so finally Iwaizumi just stood up, dislodging Oikawa, who fell to the floor. He then made his way to the kitchen to make breakfast for them all before Maho and Oikawa had to leave.

Oikawa stood up almost right after he hit the floor, and followed Iwaizumi to the kitchen, "That was mean Iwa-chaaan."

Iwaizumi shrugged as he opened the fridge, and stared into it, "What am I making for breakfast dumbass?"

* * *

Takeru sat on the couch and watched his friends as Iwaizumi made breakfast. His headset rested around his neck, and he held his controller loosely in his hands.

From the way Iwaizumi and Oikawa talked and acted, it sounded like they had done this hundreds of times before. He wondered just how many times they had done this before, waking up together, and making breakfast, going to school.

He had heard Oikawa complaining about not wanting to go to school, so it clearly wasn't just weekend sleepovers. It was obvious that they shared a bed often too, seeing as Iwaizumi had agreed to let Oikawa sleep with him in the first place, and that wasn't even including the fact that they had ended up all tangled up like they were.

"Hey Tooru?" He raised his voice, and yelled to Oikawa, who sat on the counter next to Iwaizumi, who was mixing some sort of batter.

Oikawa looked over at him, and cocked his head slightly to the side, "Yeah Take-chan? What do you need?"

"How many years have you and Hajime been friends?"

Oikawa didn't respond right away, instead he looked down at his feet, that dangled above the ground below him, and muttered something to himself. He then looked back at Takeru, "Probably about 18 years, right Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi shrugged, "Think so."

Takeru was surprised, "Aren't you guys only like 18 though?"

Oikawa shook his head, "Nineteen. Our moms were really good friends, and had us at around the same time, so we've spent almost all our time near each other starting from when we were basically newborns.

Takeru stared at them in awe, now the fact that they seemed to share beds often and had a morning routine together basically set in stone didn't seem all that ridiculous, "That's a _really_ long time. I think the longest I've ever had a friend was like six years."

"Well, I literally can't imagine what life without Iwa-chan would be like, so that's a pretty big factor in it."

Iwaizumi laughed as he carried the bowl of batter over to the stove, where a pan sat over the flame, "And I'm sure this dumbass wouldn't last a week if I left him to fend completely for himself."

Oikawa frowned at Iwaizumi, "I would do just fine on my own!"

Iwaizumi chuckled and looked back at Oikawa with a playful grin on his face, "Yeah, I'm sure you would. By the way, completely on your own means no Iwa-chan reminding you to eat dinner, no Iwa-chan reminding you to go to sleep because you have a test tomorrow. No Iwa-chan at all."

"I don't want that! I would miss talking to you."

Iwaizumi laughed, "I'm kidding, dumbass."

"Mean Iwa-chan," Oikawa frowned once again, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

* * *

Iwaizumi was sitting on the couch next to Oikawa, watching the tv screen. Oikawa and Takeru were playing some sort of shooter game, and both seemed completely into it.

This was when Maho walked in, "Hey, no sign of hi— There you are, you idiot."

Iwaizumi and Oikawa both turned to Maho, and Iwaizumi watched as Oikawa ran up to Maho and hugged her, "I'm sorry Maho-chan!"

"Better be, idiot."

Iwaizumi frowned, he didn't really like how Maho was calling Oikawa an idiot. Sure, he was just as bad with calling Oikawa a dumbass all the time, but he was also his best friend, and had been since before he could remember, and the way she was saying it sounded rude and condescending.

Maho pried Oikawa's arms off of her, seeming to be annoyed at Oikawa's touch, "Come on, grab your stuff, let's get going."

"Ok Maho-chan."

Oikawa obeyed and went to grab his backpack that was sitting near the desk, and Iwaizumi stood. He walked towards the door where Maho stood, and pulled her out the door by the wrist. He shut the door behind them and let go of her hand, "I need to talk to you a minute."

She looked annoyed, "About what? And why do we need to be out in the hall for this? Whatever you need to say to me, I'm sure you can say to Tooru and Takeru as well."

He glared at her, "All I want to say is make sure you take good care of Oikawa. You're his girlfriend, so you're going to be taking on part of my responsibility. Making sure he doesn't stay up too late, making sure he doesn't overwork himself again and destroy his knee, checking to see if he's eaten. That kind of stuff. Be nice to him too. He's sensitive."

She scowled at him in return for his glare, "Of course I'm nice to him."

"Oh I get it, your being nice to him is calling him an idiot all the time?"

"You call him a dumbass," she countered, and it was a valid point.

"That's different. Way different," Iwaizumi argued, "I've been friends with him since before I can even remember. Neither of us know what life without each other is like, and I've practically taken care of him since junior high. He knows for a fact that I don't mean it at all, but you've been friends with him for how long, three or four months? Plus, you sounded kind of rude when you were calling him an idiot just now. At least don't say it like you mean it."

"Fine. Now, Tooru and I have a train back home to catch. So if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go back in and say goodbye to Takeru."

He glowered at her, "Go right ahead."

* * *

"Iwa-chaaan," Oikawa's voice came through Iwaizumi's headphones clearly, "When can I come visit again? I miss youuu."

He was sitting on his bed with his computer open on his lap, talking to Oikawa.

Iwaizumi shrugged, "I don't know, we're pretty busy right now, with the match against your school in the tournament coming up soon."

It was later in the year now, early January, and the finals for the tournament they were in were coming up. They would be facing Oikawa's university, which meant they were going up against Ushijima as well, so the team was cramming in as many practices as possible.

However, that wasn't the biggest reason Iwaizumi didn't want Oikawa to visit again. He was trying to get rid of his feelings for his friend, and seeing him in person again definitely wasn't going to help. He really didn't want to, there was still that underlying hope that maybe Oikawa did feel like that, but the chances were slim, and it was in his best interest to drop them as soon as possible.

"Awww come on, you've gotta have _one_ free weekend sometime," Oikawa was persistent.

Iwaizumi shook his head, "Sorry, I barely have time to do my homework, let alone have you over. But it's getting late, you should get to sleep."

"You've gotta sleep too Iwa-chan, you always yell at me to sleep but you never get any yourself."

This was a change, Iwaizumi wasn't used to Oikawa telling him to take better care of himself, "What do you mean? I get plenty of sleep."

"Iwa-chan, you've always stayed up too late doing your homework. Ever since junior high, I don't think that it's changed just because you went to college."

Iwaizumi frowned, Oikawa was right, "Well yeah, but I've been doing that since junior high. I'm used to it. You're not."

"Yeah, well just because you're used to something doesn't mean it's good for you."

Oikawa was right again, and Iwaizumi sighed, "Ugh, I guess you're right. For once in your life. Night then I guess."

"Wait!" Oikawa interrupted Iwaizumi as he went to hang up, "Don't hang up, I'm gonna stay on the phone until I know you're asleep."

"Really dumbass? I can sleep on my own."

"You can, but I'm gonna make sure you do."

"Ugh, fine," Iwaizumi set his laptop down next to his pillow and pulled the curtains around his bed shut. He kept his headphones and laid down, "This good enough for you dumbass?"

Oikawa grinned, "Yep! Now go to sleep, and I will too."

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, this was stupid. Leave it to Oikawa to come up with the stupidest ideas. But before he knew it Iwaizumi was drifting off to sleep, with Oikawa's breathing in his ears. He wouldn't admit it, but he really missed the sound of that as he fell asleep.

* * *

Iwaizumi was in the middle of practice when he heard his phone start to ring. It was muffled due to the fact that it was in his bag, but it was still audible. He recognized the ringtone as the one he had set to go off when Oikawa called.

He turned to their coach, "I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to turn it off."

"Well go do it now."

Iwaizumi nodded, and ran across the gym and over to his bag. He pulled the phone out and muttered under his breath, "Dumbass, I thought I told him not to call while I was at practice."

He declined the call, and put his phone in silent mode. He was zipping his bag back up again when the screen lit up again, Oikawa was calling again. He declined the call, and once more the screen lit up.

He rolled his eyes and turned back to his coach, "I think it's important, can I answer it?"

His coach nodded, "You have two minutes."

Iwaizumi nodded gratefully, and grabbed his phone as he stood up. He tapped the accept call button and brought his phone to his ear, jogging out of the gym, "What do you need dumbass? It better be important, I'm in the middle of practice."

"Iwa-chan Iwa-chan!" Oikawa's voice was desperate and panicked, "I just saw Maho-chan with someone else, Iwa-chan what do I do?"

Iwaizumi found himself angry, but at the same time happy. If Maho were out of the picture, he may not have to get over Oikawa. He might have a chance. But he still had to support his friend, "What? Where are you?"

"I'm at the movie theater, I was at the movies with some of my teammates and I saw her walking in with a guy," Oikawa was starting to cry, and Iwaizumi could tell.

Iwaizumi bit his lip, he was running out of time, "I've gotta go soon, coach only gave me a few minutes, but did you see which theater she went into?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Ok, my best advice is to just wait outside the theater and confront her, okay?"

Oikawa sniffed, "Okay, thanks Iwa-chan."

"Call me back later okay? I've gotta get back to practice now."

"Okay," Oikawa sniffed again, he sounded like he was trying to stop crying, "I'll talk to you later Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi nodded, "Talk to you later Tooru."

He hung up and walked back into the gym. He double-checked to make sure that his phone was silenced, and put it in his bag.

Iwaizumi walked up to his coach and apologized profusely, "I'm very sorry, it won't happen again."

"Make sure it doesn't," his coach responded simply, "Now get back to practice, you've wasted enough time already."

* * *

Iwaizumi pulled his phone out of his bag as he walked out of the gym, anxious to see how Oikawa did with Maho.

He turned it on, and saw about a dozen text messages from Oikawa, and a ton of missed calls. He dialed Oikawa's number, and brought the phone to his ear. It rang for half a second, and then Oikawa picked up, "Hello?"

That was weird, Oikawa never answered the phone like that when he called, "What happened when you talked to Maho?"

"Oh, right, that," Oikawa replied, "She said that it was just her cousin who was visiting, but I don't know… I mean, I wanna believe it, so bad, but what if it's just an excuse?"

Iwaizumi frowned, "That's the oldest, most overused excuse in the book, chances are she's cheating. I'm sorr—"

"No don't apologize, it's my fault if anything."

Iwaizumi could tell that Oikawa was trying hard to hold back tears, "Dumbass, it's not your fault."

"Why would it not be my fault? I'm never enough for anybody!" Oikawa yelled into the phone, and Iwaizumi heard him start crying, "I wasn't enough for Maho, and I wasn't enough for Sawa-chan either."

"If you're never enough for anybody, then why am I still your friend? Why do I talk to you literally every day?"

Oikawa paused, and sniffed, "What do you mean Iwa-chan?"

"All I'm saying is, you're enough for me at least. By the way, I'm gonna come see you."

"Now? But it's a two hour train ride, and don't you have classes tomorrow?"

"I can miss one day of class," Iwaizumi countered. He knew how Oikawa got when he was dumped, and he wasn't going to do too well if he had to go through it on his own.

"Okay I guess, I'll see you in a few hours Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi smiled, "I'll see you in a few hours."

His phone beeped as Oikawa hung up, and he shoved it into his pocket. Iwaizumi began to run, and before he knew it he was sprinting down the sidewalk back to his dorm.

He burst through the door, breathing heavily, and he barely noticed Takeru jump at the noise. He walked quickly to the other side of the room, pulled an extra t-shirt and a pair of shorts out of the dresser, and stuffed them in his bag.

He grabbed his extra jacket from where it hung off the side of his bed, and walked back to the door. Iwaizumi stopped in the doorframe and turned back towards Takeru, "I'll be back tomorrow night, don't destroy the place."

Takeru was puzzled, "Where are you going?"

"Tokyo," Iwaizumi replied simply and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Iwaizumi stepped off the train and onto the platform. The station was mostly empty, due to it being almost eleven at night. He pulled out his phone and looked at the directions Oikawa had sent him. After double-checking which direction he needed to go in, Iwaizumi put his phone back in his pocket and began walking.

He pushed open the glass doors to the train station, and shivered as a gust of wind hit him in the face. He zipped up his jacket and buried his face in the collar to protect it from the wind. He walked briskly, to keep warm and to make sure he got to Oikawa as fast as possible.

He reached the campus quickly, and pulled his Seijoh volleyball jacket out of his bag. He pulled it on over his other jacket and zipped it up, figuring it would look less suspicious if he weren't wearing the colors of the rival team on the campus.

Iwaizumi couldn't seem reach Oikawa's dorm fast enough, but he couldn't run. His legs were shaky from sitting down for so long, and he didn't want to hurt himself before the big game. So he settled for walking as fast as possible. He finally reached the building and pushed the doors open.

It was warmer inside, and he wanted to unzip his jacket badly, but he didn't want to stick out because of his other jacket's colors. He took his phone out again, and followed Oikawa's directions to his dorm. He stood in front of the elevator, shuffling his feet anxiously as he waited for it to come down. It only took a few seconds for him to get tired of waiting, so instead he took the stairs, and ran up them skipping two at a time.

Iwaizumi reached the fifth floor, where Oikawa's room was, and walked down the hall, looking for his room number. He found it, and knocked softly.

He worried that he had gotten the wrong room when nobody came to the door right away, but his worries were put to rest when the door was opened.

Oikawa bowled him over with a hug, and Iwaizumi found himself on the ground with Oikawa's arms around him. He wrapped his arms around his friend gently in return, "Hey dumbass."

Oikawa sat up, still sitting on Iwaizumi's legs, "Thanks for coming Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi pushed himself into a half-sitting position using his elbows and smiled, "Yep, now get off me dumbass, and let me in."

"Sorry Iwa-chan," Oikawa apologized and stood up, allowing Iwaizumi to stand as well.

"Thanks," Iwaizumi stretched his legs as he stood, and followed Oikawa into the room, shutting the door behind them.

Oikawa smiled and turned back towards Iwaizumi, "Aki-san is gonna be gone for a few days so we've got the room all to ourselves."

Iwaizumi nodded, and before he even took off his shoes he turned to Oikawa, "Can I see your phone?"

Oikawa seemed puzzled, "Sure?"

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Iwaizumi, "Here you go."

Iwaizumi took it and unlocked it, "You really need to put a password on this."

Oikawa shrugged, "I've just never really gotten around to it. What are you doing?"

Iwaizumi didn't answer, he was busy looking for a certain name in Oikawa's contact list. He found it after a few minutes, and pressed call. He put the phone up to his ear, and Oikawa pestered him still, "Iwa-chan, who are you calling?"

The phone rang a few times, before finally Maho picked up, "Ugh, idiot. I was asleep. What do you need?"

"It's not the dumbass calling you, it's Iwaizumi, and I have a few questions for you."

He heard her sigh, "What do you want?"

"First of all, who were you at the movies with today?"

"My cousin," she paused, "Didn't Tooru tell you?"

"Except he's not your cousin, is he?" Iwaizumi was hoping to get some sort of reaction out of this, but to his dismay he didn't.

Maho replied nonchalantly, "And so what if he's not?"

"I told you to take care of him. Last time I checked, cheating on someone isn't taking care of them. Tooru's done with you."

"Whatever," she sighed angrily, "He spent more time with you than he did with me anyways."

"Good," Iwaizumi hung up after this, and handed Oikawa's phone back to him, "Here you go."

"Did you just—"

Iwaizumi cut Oikawa off, "It'll be better this way. I don't want you getting farther in and hurting yourself more."

Oikawa began to tear up, and he stepped forward and collapsed into Iwaizumi's chest. Ready for this, Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around Oikawa and held him close.

"So I wasn't enough after all…" Oikawa mumbled into Iwaizumi's shoulder.

Iwaizumi kicked off his shoes, and took one arm from around Oikawa and slid his bag off of his shoulder and onto the ground next to his shoes.

He wrapped his arm back around Oikawa, "It's okay to not be enough for some people. You don't need the people who you aren't enough for."

Oikawa held the back of Iwaizumi's shirt tightly, "But I'm never enough, not for anybody!"

Iwaizumi sighed, and led Oikawa over to the couch, "You're enough for me dumbass. Come on, sit down."

He sat down, and pulled Oikawa down next to him, "You'll be okay. I'm right here."

Oikawa didn't respond, he just buried his face in Iwaizumi's chest and cried.

Iwaizumi was happy that Oikawa didn't need him to reassure him verbally, he wasn't very good with words. He was okay at just being there though.

He rested his chin on top of Oikawa's head and held him tighter. He wasn't quite sure how long they sat there, time moved by quickly. Finally, Oikawa's sobs ceased, and he lifted his face from Iwaizumi's chest.

Iwaizumi moved his head from on top of Oikawa's, and looked at his friend, "You okay?"

Oikawa shrugged, "Dunno. Probably."

Iwaizumi looked over at the wall clock, and realized that it was nearing midnight. He turned back to Oikawa, "You should probably get to sleep. It's late."

"Will you sleep with me Iwa-chan? I don't wanna be alone."

Iwaizumi wasn't sure why he hadn't been expecting that, Oikawa would have asked to sleep with him anyways, "Yeah, I'll go change. I'm still in my clothes from practice so I'm all sweaty."

Oikawa nodded, "Okay."

Iwaizumi grabbed his bag from over by the door, and turned back to Oikawa, "Uh, which way is the bathroom?"

Oikawa pointed to his right, "Its the door by the dresser."

"Thanks," Oikawa walked over to the door Oikawa pointed to, and shut the door. He twisted the lock shut, and set his bag down on the counter. He looked at himself in the mirror a second, and realized that he looked kind of ridiculous. He was bundled up in two jackets, but wore only a pair of volleyball shorts on his lower half.

He unzipped his jackets, tossed them on the counter, and quickly changed into the extra pair of clothes he had brought. He stuffed his jackets and dirty clothes back into his bag, and pushed the bathroom door back open.

He looked over at Oikawa's bed, and he was already sound asleep somehow. He laid on the bed, wrapped in a fluffy blanket, with all the lights in the room still on. Iwaizumi shook his head and smiled slightly, and turned off the bathroom light. He then walked along the wall, turning off any light switch he came across. Finally all the lights were off, and he was able to sleep.

He sat down on the bed and swung his legs up onto it. He pulled one side of the blanket out from underneath Oikawa, and got underneath it with him, "Come on dumbass, give me some of the blanket."

He saw Oikawa's eyes flutter open, and he stared at Iwaizumi with half-lidded eyes.

Iwaizumi laid down facing Oikawa, and as he looked at Oikawa's sleepy expression he couldn't help but think about how he was really cute like this.

He leaned forward and gently kissed Oikawa's forehead, figuring he was so out of it that he wouldn't remember him doing it, "Goodnight Tooru, I love you."

Oikawa closed his eyes again, and rested his head back on the pillow, "G'night Iwa-chan, love you…"

Iwaizumi smiled and laid his head next to Oikawa's. Maybe nothing would end up happening between him and his friend, but he at least had hope now. Maybe they had just both been unable to say anything, and Oikawa did feel the same about Iwaizumi after all. Iwaizumi was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to force himself to love somebody else.


	2. Chapter 2

Iwaizumi drifted into consciousness a while after falling asleep next to Oikawa. He could tell it was late, it was still dark in the room, but he didn't feel Oikawa right next to him anymore. He forced his eyes open, and turned his head to look behind him and see if Oikawa was still there.

He was, and even in the dim light he could see a concentrated expression on his friend's face. Oikawa was sitting up on his side of the bed, next to the wall, with his knees pulled to his chest, and his chin resting on his knees.

He rolled over onto his other side so he was facing Oikawa, and used his elbow to prop himself up in order to talk more easily.

"The hell are you doing up dumbass?It's like, two am." Iwaizumi's voice was slurred and unintelligible.

He watched as Oikawa jumped slightly, surprised at the sound of his voice, and looked towards Iwaizumi, "Sorry Iwa-chan, did I wake you up?"

Iwaizumi shook his head, "No, but what are you doing?"

"I was just thinking," Oikawa shrugged, looking away again.

"What were you thinking about?"

Oikawa shrugged again, "Nothing, it's not important."

Iwaizumi frowned and sat up. He turned to face Oikawa and crossed his legs, "Well it's clearly not nothing if it's keeping you awake. Are you thinking about Maho?"

"No, no. It's not Maho," Iwaizumi heard Oikawa sigh, and he hesitated before he continued, "What did you mean when you said you loved me?"

Iwaizumi felt his cheeks burn, and he was thankful for the darkness, "What are you talking about?"

He hoped that maybe if he played dumb Oikawa would think it was just a dream or something; however, it didn't work.

"You said you loved me, and then kissed my forehead right before I fell asleep. What did you mean when you said that?"

Iwaizumi paused for a moment, "I meant that I love you."

"Yeah I know that, but in what way?" Oikawa persisted, "Like, did you mean it in a 'you're my best friend' kind of way or in an 'I love you romantically' kind of way?"

Iwaizumi sighed, "Why are you being so persistent about this? It doesn't really matter."

"Well it matters to me."

"Why?"

"Because I think I love you too, that's why."

Iwaizumi was stunned, he hadn't expected that at all.

"I mean, look at us," Oikawa continued, "We sleep in the same bed, hold hands, we do everything that couples do. We've basically been a couple for years, but we assumed that we were just friends, 'cause we're both boys and boys don't love boys, boys love girls. But I never did this stuff with Maho. I never did this stuff with her because I didn't really love her. I love you, and I realize that now, and I don't know if you love me in the same way. That's why it matters to me."

"I love you too," Iwaizumi took a deep breath, "I have for years."

Oikawa turned to look at Iwaizumi, and he could see the hope in his eyes, despite the darkness. The same hope was present in his voice when he spoke, "Like _love me_ love me?"

Iwaizumi smiled, and leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Oikawa, "Yes, I _love you_ love you, dumbass."

He felt Oikawa's arms around his torso, and felt the warm air against his shoulder as Oikawa spoke, "Don't be so mean Iwa-chan."


End file.
